The state Senate is full of talk about breaking with its dysfunctional, hyperpartisan ways. Sounds good to us, if indeed it's sincere. But that's a pretty low standard.

The responsibility to do better rests with both the Republicans, who'll retain power in an odd alliance with some defecting Democrats, and the rest of the Democratic conference, which absent the withdrawal of that cluster of senators might have held the majority.

If they're looking for an example of how not to govern, there's the recent example of their former colleague Hiram Monserrate, who during the chaotic partisan battles of 2009 was first sitting with the Democrats, then the Republicans, then the Democrats again, before being expelled the next year after being convicted of assaulting his girlfriend. Last week he was the latest ex-lawmaker sent packing to prison, for diverting taxpayer dollars intended for a Latino community group in Queens to his failed 2006 campaign.

"Using other people's money for your own purposes is way down in the lowest circle of hell," U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon told Mr. Monserrate.

We're waiting to see if the Senate under coalition rule delivers on an agenda that must include a minimum wage increase and campaign finance reform, among other urgent issues. Frankly, there's little to give us hope, and a lot for incumbents who were entangled with the past shenanigans, including GOP leader Dean Skelos, to live down.

But we assume the first standard for the Senate — an admittedly low one — is that it no longer be a place where one member after another is indicted, convicted, jailed or otherwise shamed. Whichever party is in charge surely can't be worse than what has gone before.

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Then there's Bob Reilly of Colonie, departing the state Assembly after an entirely honorable eight-year tenure. Rather than use other people's money for personal gain, Mr. Reilly gave it away. A state retiree who collects a public pension, he made it a practice to donate his $79,500 legislative salary to charities.

Giving away so much money is a personal choice that not every double-dipping lawmaker can afford to make, or simply doesn't want to. But it is worth noting that the generous sentiment underlying Mr. Reilly's gesture — that elected office is about public service, not how much money or power one can get from it — will be his lasting legacy.

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The fall semester ended at the University at Albany on a high note. Behind the news that the Cuomo administration has approved $35 million toward a fundraising drive for a range of projects, mostly in technology and the sciences, lies a tale of perseverance that ought to be a source of reassurance for everyone on campus.

The aim of the construction of a $165 million Emerging Technology and Entrepreneurship Complex is to bring about an essential integration of the academic world of research and the real world of financial investment. This fusion is the essence of the SUNY 2020 initiative.

SUNY's other university centers — at Buffalo, Binghamton and Stony Brook — had their plans approved a year ago. At UAlbany, meantime, the first year of SUNY 2020 meant little more than a tuition increase and delayed hopes, while its plan had to be revised to win over the governor's office.

But now?

Imagine 187 new faculty members and additional 355 researchers, which UAlbany's bold expansion plans project. Think of a university that expects to offer some 700 new courses — and raise its enrollment to 20,000 and increase its graduation rate by 7 percent. Think, too, of the communitywide benefits of a bigger and more focused UAlbany.